Fully counterbalanced ceiling-mounted telescopic column for X-ray tube support



Jan. 14, 1964 P. THOMAS ETAL 3,118,066

E. FULLY COUNTERBALANCED CEILING-MOUNTED TELESCOPIC COLUMN FOR X-RAY TUBE SUPPORT Filed Feb. 17, 1961 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 "6 I l I: L---+=&-- 2:

O 1:: F lg. 2

' wnusssss: INVENTORS a Eugene F. Thomas W -R R Harry E. Koerner PATENT AGENT United States Patent FULLY CQUNTERBALANCED CElLWG-MQUNT- ED TELESCGPlfl COLUMN FQR X-RAY TUBE SUPPORT Eugene P. Thomas, Baltimore, and Harry E. Koerner, Catonsville, Md, assignors to Westinghouse Electric Corporation, East Pittsburgh, Pa, a corporation of Pennsylvania Filed Feb. 17, 1961, Ser. No. 90,131 7 Claims. (Cl. 258-91) This invention relates to a telescopic column and more particularly to such a column as useful for rigid guiding and constraint of a ceiling-supported X-ray head.

Known prior art telescopic columns used in overhead X-ray tube supports as heretofore employed change lengths by successive movement of column sections brought about by successive engagement of end stops associated with the several sections. This successivelyresponsive arrangement results in a counterweight force which varies according to the degree of extension of the column, necessitating provision of a variable counterbalancing construction, and in an arrangement which is characterized by variable resistance to movement as one section picks up or drops out another, according to whether the column is being lowered or raised.

In view or" the foregoing remarks, it is a prime object of the present invention to provide an improved telescopic column particularly suited for use in overhead X-ray tube supports which affords counter-balancing by a single constant force over its entire extension distance, thereby assuring a smoothness of operation which is particularly desirable in manual operation.

It is another object of the present invention to provide an improved telescopic column, particularly suited for use in ceiling-mounted X-ray tube stands, in which the several column sections are synchronized for movement in unison throughout the entire extension range of the column.

It is another object to provide an improved telescopic column in accord with the preceding objects, which enables the several sections to be fully counter-balanced in all their positions by a single counterweight through the medium of a cable and pulley arrangement.

in accord with the preceding objects, it is yet another object of the present invention to provide an improved telescopic column for overhead support and vertical guidauce of an Xray tube head which enables the X-ray tube head and the several sections of the column to be fully counterbalanced in all vertical positions by a single counterweight through the medium of a simple pulley and cable arrangement.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following description when taken in connection with the accompanying drawing in which:

FIG. 1 is a side elevation view showing in its fully collapsed position, the novel telescopic column as used for support or carriage of an X-ray tube head;

FIGS. 2 and 3 are similar views showing the column of FIG. 1 in intermediate and fully-extended positions, respectively;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged vertical cross-sectional view of the novel column disclosing details of a synchronizing cable-and-pulley arrangement embodied therein; and

FIG. 5 is a horizontal cross-sectional view of the novel column as viewed along the line 55 in FIG. 4.

Referring to FIG. 1 in the drawing, the novel telescopic column 1 is shown, for exemplification, in conjunction with its use for overhead support of an X-ray tube head assemblage 2, although it will be understood that it may find use for support of other than such an assemblage. As seen in FIG. 1, the telescopic column depends from 3,.ll8,h Patented Jan. 14, 1964 Ice overhead support means such as a carriage 3 mounted on overhead rails 4 (one of which is shown) through the medium of rollers 5 which, in the usual manner, afiords portability of carriage and column in the one direction. In this particular exemplification, the usual side rails (not shown) for roller support of opposite ends of the cross rails are usually provided for horizontal movement of the carriage 3 at right angles to the direction of extension of rails 4.

In accord with the invention, the telescopic column 1 comprises a plurality of hollow sections 6, 7, 8 and 9, four for example, each of different cross-sectional dimensions to afford their being telescoped and to provide sufiicient radial clearance therebetween for disposition of antifriction guide means and of synchronizing means in form of a cable and pulley construction as described in detail hereinafter.

in accord with the preferred embodiment of the column 1 as exemplified in the drawing, each of the hollow sections 6 to 9 takes a multi-sided form which affords a plurality of circumferentially-arranged radially-spaced parallel fiat surfaces, FIG. 5, for location of commercially available drawer guide assemblages 12. Each assemblage 12 includes a channel element 13 secured to interior flat surfaces of the column elements and extending therealong, a complementary guide bar 14, and intermediate arrays of roller balls 15 provided with the usual lr eper means (not shown) for spaced-apart distribution and retention of these roller balls along the channel elements 13 at their interior for rolling contact with the sides of the guide bar 14 when introduced therebetween by relative telescopic movement of the column sections.

It has been found convenient and practical to employ four symmetri ally-arranged guide assemblages 12 on each column section and to make all, save the innermost section 9 which is of square shape in cross section, of octagonal shape in cross section to afiord a degree of compactness approaching that of a round shape in cross sec tion while maintaining the advantage of having fiat surfaces available for the mounting of the guide assemblages.

In accord with preferred structure, the motion-synchronizing means embodied in the novel column of the present invention comprises a system of cables 18 to 21, and pulleys 22 to 25 (PEG. 4) which operates during exertion of vertical effort on such as handles 27 associated with X-ray tube head 2 carried by element 9, to provide unified equal amounts of relative extension of the movable column sections 7, 8 and 9, as indicated in FIGS. 1, 2. and 3 of the drawing, where the column 1 is shown in positions of full retraction, partial extension, and full extension, respectively. Such system also enables full counterbalancing of the movable sections 7, 8 and and of the load carried by section 9, namely X-ray tube head 2 as exemplified, by a single counterweight means 30 through the medium of such, for example, as a cable means 31 anchored at 32 to the column section 9 and passing over a pulley system including a pulley 33 mounted on carriage 3 and a pulley 34- at a fixed location at the Wall 35' of a room in which the equipment may be located. In actual practice, however, where cross-travel of the column 1 is provided by the carriage 3 on rails 4, FIG. 1, and longitudinal travel is provided by the side rails, not shown, on which the rails 4 are roller mounted at their ends, the cable means 31 Will be made to pass over a complex of pulleys at various stations including at element 9 and at counterweight St} to enable such horizontal travel of the column 1 to take place without disturbing or materially tending to disturb the vertical positions of the counterweight 30 and column section 9. The showing in FIG. 4 of a simple rigging for counterweight 3% and column element 9 is in the interest of facilitating an understanding of the present invention, inasmuch as the specific rigging of the counterweight forms no part of this invention.

Referring again to FIG. 4, in the synchronizing construction the cable 18 is anchored at its uppermost end to the end of a cable anchor post 40, within and attached to column element 6, which projects inwardly therefrom suh'iciently to enable the cable 18 to extend downwardly through column element 7 to the pulley 22 at its lower end without interfering with relative axial movement of these two column elements. After passing around the pulley 22, the cable 18 returns upward and is anchored at 41 to the upper end of column element 3. Similarly, the cable 19 is anchored to the projecting end of an anchor post 42 which enables extension of this cable downwardly between column sections 8 and 9, around the pulley 23 at the bottom of column section 8 and upwardly to an anchor 43 at the top of column section 9'.

At the opposite side of column 1, FIGS. 4 and 5, the cable 2 9 is anchored at 45 to the lower end of column section 6 at its interior and extends upwardly to the pulley 24 carried by the upper end of column section 7 which directs such cable downwardly within column section 8 to an anchor 46 at its lower interior. Similarly, cable 211 is anchored at 47 to the lower end of column section 7 and extends upwardly to the pulley 25 carried by the upper end of column section 8 which directs such cable downwardly into column section 9 to an interior anchor 48 at its lower end.

In operation, assume that the column 1 is in its fully retracted position in which it is shown in FIG. 1 and that it is desired to lower the X-ray tube head 2 to a position corresponding to partial extension of column as shown in FIG. 2, for example. A downward pulling effort will be exerted on such as the handles 27, FIG. 1, to cause downward movement of the tube head 2 and of lowermost section 9 of the column 1 while the counterweight is raised via the cable means 31 passing over pulley means 33, 34. Simultaneously, the column sections 7 and 8, suspended from the carriage-mounted column section 6 and from the counterweight-supported section 9 through the medium of cables 18 and 19 and pulleys 22, 23, will be caused to move longitudinally in coincidence with movement of section 9 by action of cables 21 and passing over pulleys 25 and 24. During lowering of section 9 relative to non-moved section 6, section 8 will travel two-thirds the distance that element 9 does and section 7 will travel one-third such distance, with the result that in the exemplified column the several sections each constantly remain equally extended relative to their immediately-adjacent sections in all extended positions from full retraction, FIG. 1, to full extension, FIG. 3.

During raising of the X-ray tube head 2, an upward eifort exerted on handles 27 enables the counterweight 30 to raise column section 9 and such tube head 2 through the medium of cable means 31, while at the same time raising column sections 7 and 8 through the medium of cables 1?, 18 and pulleys 23, 22. As in lowering, such raising causes the same proportionate movements of the several column sections relative to travel of section 9 as set forth in preceding description.

During movement of the column sections 6 to 9 in either direction, the roller guide assemblages 12 facilitate such movement and prevent any off-center forces which may be applied to these sections from causing binding resistance to such movement. The force required to effect such movement remains constant throughout the range of column extensions due to the constantly applied full counter-balance and the action is smooth and precise. A scale as, FIG. 3, on the outer surface of such as column section 7 and calibrated in terms of distance from X-ray tube target to the table top and/or to the X-ray film is provided to indicate such distance or distances according to exposure of the scale beyond the adjacent column section 6.

While the invention has been described with a degr i of particularity, it will be understood that the invention is not necessarily so limited except as within the scope of the appended claims.

We claim as our invention:

1. in an X-ray apparatus, an X-ray tube head, overhead support means, a plurality of vertically-extending telescopically-adjustable column sections, the uppermost section being attached at its upper end to said overhead support means and the lowermost section carrying said Xray tube head, counterweight means connected to said lowermost section in exertion of a constant lift force thereon for full counterbalance of X-ray tube head and the movable column sections, cable-and-pulley means disposed within and constantly interconnecting said column sections in weight-transmitting relationship therebetween for synchronizing movement of the telescoping column sections while assuring that the weight thereof counterbalanced by said counterweight means remains constant irrespective of their adjusted positions.

2. in a vertically-adjustable X-ray tube column comprising a plurality of telescopically-arranged column sec tions, the uppermost one of which is secured to overhead support means and the lowermost one of which is connected to counterweight means which exerts a lifting force thereon, the combination therewith of a synchronizing construction comprising a first series of vertically-extending cables anchored at the upper ends of said column sections and passing around pulleys carried at the lower ends of said column sections and a second series of vertically-extending cables anchored at the lower ends of said column sections and passing around pulleys carried at the upper ends of said sections.

3. In a vertically-adjustable X-ray tube column comprising a plurality of telescopically-arranged column sections, the outermost one of which depends from an overhead support means and the innermost one of which is connected to counterweight means exerting upward force thereon, the combination therewith of a plurality of upper cable anchor posts secured to said column sections, at their upper ends, respectively, a plurality of lower cable anchor posts secured to said column sections at their lower ends, respectively, a plurality of upper cable pulleys respectively carried by the upper ends of the intermediate ones of said column sections which are between the aforesaid uppermost and lowermost ones, a plurality of lower cable pulleys respectively carried by the lower ends of the aforesaid intermediate ones of said column sections, a first series of vertically-extending cables passing around said lower cable pulleys, respectively, each cable of said first series being anchored at its one end to the upper anchor post of the column section immediately adjacent to and inward of the one carrying the lower pulley around which such cable passes and being anchored at its other end to the upper anchor post of a column section outward and two column sections away from the one carrying the lower pulley around which such cable passes, and a second series of vertically-extending cable passing around said upper cable pulleys, respectively, each cable of said second series being anchored at its one end to the lower anchor post of the column section immediately adjacent to and outward of the one carrying the respective upper cable pulley around which such cable passes and being anchored at its other end to the lower anchor post of a column section inward and two column sections away from the one carrying the respective upper cable pulley around which such cable passes.

4. In a vertically-adjustable X-ray tube column comprising a plurality of telescopically-arranged radiallyspaced-apart column sections, the outermost one of which depends from an overhead support means and the innermost one of which is connected to counterweight means exerting an upward force thereon; the combination therewith of a plurality of lower pulleys disposed respectively on the inner walls at the lower ends of those intermediate column sections which are between the innermost and outermost ones; a plurality of elongated upper anchor posts having projecting ends disposed directly above said lower pulleys, respectively, each elongated upper anchor post extending radially inward from the inner surface of the upper end of a respective column section which is exterior and immediately adjacent to the column section carrying the respective lower pulley below its projecting end, a plurality of short upper anchor posts disposed directly above said lower pulleys, respectively, each short upper anchor post extending from the respective outer surface of the upper ends of the column section interior of and immediately adjacent to the column section carrying the respective lower pulley above which said short upper anchor post is disposed; a first plurality of cables passing around the bottom of the lower pulleys, respectively, and anchored at their two ends to the respective elongated and short upper anchor posts disposed above said lower pulleys; a plurality of short lower anchor posts extending from the inner surface of the lower ends of the several column sections, respectively; a plurality of upper pulleys carried at the upper ends of the aforesaid intermediate column sections and extending radially thereof, each upper pulley being of sufiicient diameter and so disposed as to span the upper edges of the wall of the column section on which it is mounted as well as that of the column section immediately adjacent inwardly thereof; and a second plurality of cables passing over the top of said upper pulleys, respectively, each anchored at its two ends to the respective lower anchor posts disposed beneath horizontally-opposite cable-accommodating edges of the respective one of said upper pulleys.

5. A suspended vertically-adjustable X-ray tube column comprising a plurality of telescopically-arranged radiallyspaced-apart column sections each having a plurality of flat side walls, a plurality of vertically-extending U-shaped channel members secured to and opening inwardly from the inner surface of at least three of said flat side walls at circumferentially-spaced-apart locations on all save the innermost one of said column sections, an equal number of vertically-extending guide bars secured to flat side walls of all save the outermost one of said column sections and extending outwardly therefrom with clearance into said channel members, respectively, and a plurality of roller balls interposed between sides of said channel members and sides of said guide bars.

6. in an overhead support for an Xray tube head, overhead support means, a plurality of at least three verdeadly-extending telescopically-related column sections for vertically-adjustabie support of the X-ray tube head, the u permost coiumn section depending from said overhead support means and the lowermost column section constructed and arranged to carry the X-ray tube head, and motion synchronizing means carried by said column sections and constantly interconnecting said colurnn sections in weight-transmitting relationship from one column section to another.

7. In an X-ray apparatus, an X-ray tube head, overhead support means, a plurality of at least three verticallyextending telescopically-related column sections for Vertically-adjustable positioning of the X-ray tube head, the uppermost column section depending from said overhead support means and the lowermost column section carrying said X-ray tube head, motion synchronizing means carried by said column sections and constantly interconnecting said column sections in weight-transmitting relationship from one column section to another, and counterbaiance means connected to the aforesaid lowermost column section in full counterbalance of all vertically movable column sections and of said X-ray tube head in all adjusted positions.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,636,181 Isherwood May 24, 1929 2,476,776 Smathers July 19, 1949 2,737,596 Haupt et al. Mar. 6, 1956 2,835,520 Schiring et a1. May 20, 1958 2,841,717 Kizaur July 1, 1958 2,876,362 Foderaro Mar. 3, 1959 

1. IN AN X-RAY APPARATUS, AN X-RAY TUBE HEAD, OVERHEAD SUPPORT MEANS, A PLURALITY OF VERTICALLY-EXTENDING TELESCOPICALLY-ADJUSTABLE COLUMN SECTIONS, THE UPPERMOST SECTION BEING ATTACHED AT ITS UPPER END TO SAID OVERHEAD SUPPORT MEANS AND THE LOWERMOST SECTION CARRYING SAID X-RAY TUBE HEAD, COUNTERWEIGHT MEANS CONNECTED TO SAID LOWERMOST SECTION IN EXERTION OF A CONSTANT LIFT FORCE THEREON FOR FULL COUNTERBALANCE OF X-RAY TUBE HEAD AND THE MOVABLE COLUMN SECTIONS, CABLE-AND-PULLEY MEANS DISPOSED WITHIN AND CONSTANTLY INTERCONNECTING SAID COLUMN SECTIONS IN WEIGHT-TRANSMITTING RELATIONSHIP THEREBETWEEN FOR SYNCHRONIZING MOVEMENT OF THE TELESCOPING COLUMN SECTIONS WHILE ASSURING THAT THE WEIGHT THEREOF COUNTER- 